CARL CZERNY (1791-1857)Austrian Pianist and Composer

Who among us does not cringe at the very mention of Carl Czerny? Who
has not been bored to distraction for hours at a time playing his mind
numbing exercises for the piano? And who has not suffered the pain of
forcing his fingers to move faster and faster in myriad ways unintended
by nature?

And yet, he was in fact a capable composer,
strongly influenced by Beethoven, and his music represents one of the
missing links between the classical and romantic pianistic styles. I
say missing because his works, like those of many of the major composers
of the transition era bridging classicism and romanticism, are
virtually unknown today leaving one with an unsettling sense of "... and
then there was Beethoven, and suddenly there were Chopin and Schumann
and Liszt." as though these musical geniuses somehow appeared,
uninfluenced, out of the ether.

Carl Czerny's music, as you will
hear, was not of the first rank. It is well crafted music, charming,
with occasional touches of brilliance, but harmonically unimginitive and as
such sounds dated, while music that was being composed at the same time by Beethoven and Schubert sounds ground-breaking. I find his "Figaro fantasy delightful. This fantasy and the Op 14 variations are performed below by the brilliant pianists, Cyprien Katsaris and Stephen Hough, respectively. And the
Rode Variations are lots of fun, particularly under the hands of a
master pianist like Vladimir Horowitz who makes magic with every trill.

I will have to explore more closely, but I suspect his chamber music is perhaps more successful. Give the Nonet a listen.

Musically, you
will hear the influence of Beethoven and many similarities to
Schubert. Essentially, his music comes across as unsatisfying, Beethoven and
Schubert without the genius, but there are hints of Mendelssohn to come
that are delicious.

Pianistically, as the teacher of Theodor Leschetizky, Stephen Heller, Sigismond Thalberg, and of course, Franz Liszt, Czerny is the ancestor of of all the greater and lesser piano virtuosi of the first half of the 19th century.

It is interesting to note that in the
first two piano sonatas, Carl Czerny adds a fifth movement, a fugue, as a
look backwards to the roots of classicism. The first Sonata predates
Beethoven's use of the Fugue in his piano sonatas but the second was
written after Beethoven's Hammerklavier with the magnificent fugue in
the final movement. Can it be that Czerny inspired Beethoven's use of
this ultimate in contrapuntal textures in the latter's works in sonata
form?

I include the following performance by Syuzanna Rudanovskaya, a young Russian pianist who
was 11 years old when this recital was taped. She seems
clearly on track to become a serious virtuoso, Russian style. There are a number of videos of this remarkable young woman pianist on
YouTube, her recitals over the three years since the one below. I promise you her
Rachmaninov is very impressive.

Variations on Themes by Mozart, Schubert, Bellini, Auber, Rode and Haydnperformed by various unidentified pianists

Two romances for piano three hands, Op 111Alexander Bakhchiev and Elena Sorokina, pianists

Music for Six Hands

For those who have not suffered seemingless agonies at the hands (pun intended) of Carl Czerny, or those who crave further pain, far be it from me to deny you. Many of his exercises have been now been recorded. Here is an example. Knock yourselves out.

The School of Velocity, Op 299

Karen and Howard Pancoast, pianists

For those of you who enjoy murder mysteries, here is my first with a strong musical polemic as background